3Com 5000 ATM manual 2ATM Backbone SwitchModule Function

2-2CHAPTER 2: LAN EMULATION OVERVIEW

Legacy

LAN

LAN emulation (LANE) bridges

ATM backbone network

Legacy

LAN

Figure 2-1LAN Emulation Function

The ATM Backbone SwitchModule provides a LAN emulation bridge between an ATM network and a standard Ethernet-based SwitchModule (Figure 2-2).

SwitchModule

Virtual Bridge

(vbridge)

ATM

Backbone

SwitchModule

ATM network

Emulated LAN

(ELAN)

Figure 2-2ATM Backbone SwitchModule Function

The ATM Backbone SwitchModule accepts Ethernet and FDDI source packets from the SwitchModule over the CoreBuilder 5000 PacketChannel backplane and converts the packets to ATM cells for forwarding to the ATM backbone.

Conversely, ATM cells received by the ATM Backbone SwitchModule from the ATM backbone are converted to Ethernet packets and sent over the CoreBuilder 5000 PacketChannel backplane to the destination SwitchModule.